


Harry Potter and the Golden Dragon

by Aille



Series: Golden Dragon [1]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Abandoned Work - Unfinished and Discontinued, Alternate Universe - Harry Potter Setting, F/M, Hogwarts Seventh Year, I'm Bad At Tagging, M/M, My First Fanfic, Original Character(s), Will revisit someday to completely rewrite, Written Pre-Half Blood Prince
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-07
Updated: 2016-11-07
Packaged: 2018-08-29 15:15:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 14,905
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8494873
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aille/pseuds/Aille
Summary: It's Harry's seventh year at Hogwarts. Strange things are happening at the school, and with some help from his friends, Harry is pushed head first into it.I am posting this because it was the first part of a series I was writing many years ago. I make no apologies for this, but someday I hope to fix how bad it is.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> DISCLAIMER: I do not own Harry Potter, in any way, shape or form. I love to read the books, but I sure don't own them. J.K. Rowling and WB do. This is simply a tribute to the Harry Potter series. I am making no money from this and I'm just enjoying sharing my own crazy ideas.
> 
> AUTHORS NOTE: This was my first fan fiction that I have published. I hope someday to pick this muse back up and re-write it to work with the idea that this had finally turned into. Since this is actually turned into part of a series I was writing, this whole first chapter no longer truly works. I’m only posting this original version because this is what I once wrote.

This summer seemed to be one of the worst that Harry had ever faced. The Dursley’s seemed to have found new ways to torture him. He had only been back at the Dursley’s a week, but already he knew life was going to be miserable this summer. This was Harry's last summer with the Dursley’s, as next year was Harry's seventh and final year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. He would be free to do what he pleased once he finished school and was already making plans to get a flat with Ron, his best friend, once they finished.

Things had been going downhill ever since he got off the train at platform nine and three-quarters. The Dursley’s hadn't even been there to pick him up this time. He made his farewells to Ron and Hermione, made his way through the curtain when his time came, and went to the street to wait for the Knight Bus.

The Knight Bus didn't arrive until after dark so, a number of hours later, he arrived at the Dursleys. This caused Harry to be in a lot of trouble. Uncle Vernon was furious at the fact that Harry arrived at his home after midnight and, in retaliation, locked him in his room. The cat flap was still on the door from previous years and his food was pushed through each day. There were some things going in Harry's favor. So far, Uncle Vernon hadn't put the bars back on the window and he also left the trunk in Harry's room instead of locking it in the cupboard under the stairs. He still seemed to be afraid of Harry's godfather turning up. This gave Harry plenty of time to work on his summer homework.

He looked nothing like his Uncle Vernon, Aunt Petunia, or cousin Dudley. Although he was no longer small, as he had hit a growth spurt in his sixth year at Hogwarts, he was still rather lanky. However, what really set him apart from the rest of his family, and even the wizarding world, was the thin scar on his forehead shaped like a bolt of lightning. Uncle Vernon was a big, beefy man with hardly any neck and a large mustache. Aunt Petunia was thin, blonde, and had twice the usual amount of neck. Dudley was rounder than he was tall and was reaching the size of a killer whale. As much as Harry despised living with the Dursley’s, they were his only living relatives.

Harry sent out his snowy white owl, Hedwig, for help from his friends and for gathering food on the first day he was locked in his room. He knew that even though it had been six days already, there was no way that Hedwig could get to Ron, Hermione and Hagrid in such a short amount of time. He was hoping that she returned soon; he missed her company.

Early on the morning of July 7, Harry woke up to the sound of tapping on his bedroom window and scrambled out of bed hoping to see Hedwig, but it wasn't her. It was one of the school owls; he recognized the school crest on a chain around its neck. He opened the window and the school owl flew over to Hedwig's cage, where Harry put out some owl treats and fresh water in the dishes. Then, taking the envelope off the leg of the owl and opening it, he removed the letter and started to read.

"Mr. Potter, you are needed at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry on July 10th, at precisely noon. I have enclosed a port key that will bring you to the school grounds at 11:32 a.m. ...

Harry dumped the rest of the contents of the envelope onto his bed at reading that line and picked up the little button fell onto the bed. He assumed it was the port key.

...Send an owl with a reply as soon as possible to the school."

Yours truly

Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore

(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock, Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. of Wizards)

Why did Professor Dumbledore want him at the school in three days? How was he to get out of the room without the Dursley’s noticing? What if Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon actually came into the room while he was gone or he didn't get back before they pushed in his evening meal? They would get angry with him; perhaps even kick him out of the house. Where would he go if they did that? He had been staying at the Weasley’s on and off for the last five summers with Ron and trusted them but he didn't want to bother them with his problems.

He knew that he would be going to the meeting at the school on the 10th, no matter what the consequences were. Professor Dumbledore had never asked him to come to him over the summer so it had to very important. He didn't want to upset him.

Pulling out a fresh piece of parchment, Harry started to write an answer to the professor.

Professor Dumbledore,

I will use the port key that you sent me, and I will be at the school on the morning of the 10th. Has something happened? Have I done something to cause a problem?

Yours truly,

Harry Potter

Harry got off his bed and went over to the owl that was just finishing having a drink. Looking at the owl, he patted it on the head; then tied the parchment to its leg. Smiling, he said, "Thank you, please take this to Professor Dumbledore."

At that, the owl took off and flew out the window.

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Three days later, Harry woke up early and started cleaning up his room. Not knowing when he would be returning to the Dursleys, he didn't want to leave anything out that they may recognize as a part of his school things. He knew that they would be coming up to let him out to use the washroom in the evening, probably around 8 p.m. It would give him about eight hours to do whatever the professor wanted and get back to his room without ever knowing he was gone.

Hedwig returned the day before, bringing food from the Weasleys. Hermione had also sent some food. They all knew what the Dursleys were like. In the summer before Harry's 2nd year, they had done this before; locked him in this room, fed him in small amounts, and barred the windows. The Weasley twins, Fred and George, and Ron broke him out that time. Then, in the summers before Harry's 4th and 5th year, his cousin, Dudley, was placed on a very unsuccessful diet, and Harry was forced on it as well. Luckily, with of the help of Hermione, Ron and Hagrid, Harry received enough food to fill his empty belly that summer.

Harry gave Hedwig some time to rest and then sent her back to Ron that same day along with a note. He told him that he was heading to the school the next day on request from Professor Dumbledore. He also asked Ron to keep Hedwig with him until he received another owl from the school to tell him where to send her.

After he finished cleaning the room, he sat on his bed and looked at the little button. He felt anxious. Why was he wanted at the school? Professor Dumbledore didn't send a reply to his questions so he worried about why he was summoned. It was only hours to go before he was pulled by the port key to the school. He had used port keys before; the first time was to the Quidditch World Cup and back to The Burrow. That night, upon winning in TriWizard Tournament, he and Cedric Diggory were taken away by port key when they grasped the TriWizard Cup. Harry faced Lord Voldemort and Cedric died by Voldemort's hand. He had no idea what to expect this time when he landed.

Trying to clear his head, he started to think about his godfather, Sirius Black. He hadn't heard from him for a couple months. Sirius always contacted him at least once a month, and Harry was starting to worry. There was nothing in the Daily Prophet stating that Sirius had been caught and Harry knew that must still be safe, but why wasn't he writing?

The alarm clock sitting beside Harry's bed went off at exactly 11:30 a.m. He jumped, quickly turning the alarm off, not wanting Uncle Vernon to open the door. He got lost within his thoughts wondering where his godfather was that the alarm startled him. Picking up the button, he looked around and waited the last two minutes.

Feeling the familiar jerk underneath his navel, Harry was pulled to the school in a whirl of wind and color.


	2. The Meeting with Dumbledore

Harry fell forward as he landed on the ground of the schoolyard. Pulling himself to his feet, he pocketed the button within his robes and started to look around. He was standing on the far side of the lake, and felt a little disorientated from the travel.

Noticing Hagrid coming towards him, he smiled. "Hi Hagrid, any idea why I'm here?" Harry called out.

Hagrid just smiled and said in his gruff voice, "Harry, how yah doin'?" seeming to avoid the question.

"Worried, you know why I'm here Hagrid." Harry finally shaking off the affects of the port key was even more curious as to why he was here. Taking three strides to everyone of Hagrid's, they made their way around the lake towards the front door.

"Ah, you know I can't tell yah that. That's for Dumbledore. Your gonna love it Harry." Hagrid thumped a large hand on Harry's back, nearly knocking him over.

He stumbled forward a few steps and then regained his feet, "I'm going to love what Hagrid? What's going on?"

Hagrid just grinned at him again and continued to stride towards the castle. Harry gave up, knowing he wasn't going to get anything out of him.

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Checking his watch, Harry stood in front of the large stone gargoyle at five to 12 and took a deep breath. Saying the password that Hagrid told him, smarties, he watched the gargoyle jump to the side and the wall behind it split in two. Before moving though the door, he touched the gargoyle and told it thank you. He could have sworn it smiled at him.

He stepped onto the spiral staircase that moved upwards, and silently stood there on his way up. Long before he was ready to be there, he found himself standing in front of the gleaming oak door, with a brass knocker in the shape of a griffon. Raising his hand, he grasped the knocker, rapped upon the door and then took a step back.

\---------------------------------------------------------------------

 

When the door did not open straight away, Harry started to squirm where he stood. He could hear voices on the other side of the door, but could not hear anything more than mumbles though the oak door. It took all of his will power not to press his ear up against the door and listen.

Once again, the question of 'Why am I here?' passed thru his mind as he glanced down at his watch that Sirius had sent him for Christmas in his fifth year. 11:59 blinked up at him from his wrist. How could he be early? That climb on the spiraling staircase seemed to take forever, and he could swear he had been standing in front of the door for at least five minutes. However, he couldn't have, he had had only five minutes left when he reached the gargoyle. Was time slowing down, just to drive him crazy?

All of a sudden, Harry jerked his head up, the voices had stopped and he could not hear anything coming from the room. He straightened himself up trying to make it look as if he was not nervous to find out who was behind that door other than Professor Dumbledore.

There was the sound of chairs scraping on the floor and footsteps coming towards the door. Harry backed up a step, not knowing if people would be coming out, or if it was just one person coming to open the door for him.

As the door opened in towards the office, he gasped. A tiny woman stood before him, smiling broadly. She could not be more than 5' tall, and although she looked young, her hair was a snowy white and in a long braid behind her. What surprised him even more was she wasn't dressed in robes, but in a medieval gown that was a vivid shade of green.

"Good afternoon, you must be Mr. Potter. Please, come in. Professor Dumbledore is waiting for you." At that, the woman bowed at the waist, clasping her hands in front of her chest, straightened up, and strode past Harry towards the staircase.

Harry watched her move past him and did not remove his gaze until he could not see her any more. Questions spinning though his head, 'Who is she? Why had she bowed to me?' but most of all, 'Why on earth am I here?'

Shaking himself out of it, Harry took those last few steps and entered the office.

\---------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Taking a quick look around the room, Harry smiled. It had not changed much over the years since he had first stepped foot in it. Fawkes, the phoenix, was sitting on top of Professor Dumbledore's desk and was preening his feathers. The Sorting Hat was sitting on a shelf behind the desk and in a glass case beside it was the sword of Godric Gryffindor, which Harry had used in his second year in the Chamber of Secrets.

Someone beside him cleared their throat and Harry jumped. He felt somewhat silly; he kept getting lost within his thoughts for some reason today. Turning, he found himself face to face with the Headmaster.

"Harry, how good of you to come." Dumbledore chortled. "I'm sure you’re wondering why I asked you to come here today, and in the middle of your summer vacation." As he talked, Dumbledore made his way around the enormous, claw-footed desk and took a seat in his chair, gesturing for Harry to do the same.

Harry sat down heavily into one of the chairs in front of the desk as all of the questions that he had going threw his head the past few days seemed to disappear. He nodded, watching Dumbledore.

Dumbledore smiled, "Have you been keeping up to date with the Daily Prophet Harry?"

Shaking his head confused, "No sir, I haven't received a copy since I went back to the Dursley’s. Ron promised to send me a copy if anything big showed up though." Feeling his chest start to tighten, he croaked out, "Why? What does that have to do with me?"

If anything, the smile on Dumbledore's face got bigger. "I must remember to thank Mr. Weasley when he comes back to class this fall." He said almost to himself.

"Why?" Harry asked feeling even more confused.

"It seems that Mr. Weasley hasn't been keeping up to date himself." Dumbledore answered, looking straight at him. "The whole reason I asked you here today Mr. Potter, was to impart some very important news. However before I get to that, I'm sure wondering who that was." He glanced towards the door.

"Um, yes sir, I was, Professor Dumbledore sir." Harry turned in his seat towards the door, almost expecting the woman to be back, but no one was there, and it had closed behind him. Unable to stop himself he blurted out, "Why did she bow to me?" turning back to face the Headmaster.

Dumbledore's eyes sparkled for the briefest of moments. "That was Madam Nurr. She will be assisting in the Hospital Wing next year, and within the Defense Against the Dark Arts class. As to why she bowed, you will have to ask her that yourself, Harry."

Looking thunderstruck, Harry blurted out, "I thought Professor Hellfire was going to be back again next year. What happened?" without thinking. In the six years that Harry had been at Hogwarts, he had not had a Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher that made it through the summer term. It had looked like the newest one just might. Although Professor Hellfire was not the best Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher they had had, he definitely wasn't the worst; Professor Lockhart still had that distinction.

Folding his hands together, Dumbledore leaned forward in his chair and watched Harry. "Yes, Professor Hellfire will be back next year. Madam Nurr will only be assisting in the classroom. You will find what she has to teach very interesting."

Before Harry had a chance to ask what Professor Dumbledore meant, a knock sounded on the great oak door. Spinning around, Harry stared at it as Dumbledore chucked.

"Ah yes, they are early. Harry, the reason I asked you here." At that, he raised his voice and called out, "Come in, come in."

Harry's eyes widened as the door swung open towards him.


	3. An Explanation

Three people were silhouetted in the doorframe. The other two were supporting the person in the middle. Harry would have jumped out of his chair to help, but his legs had stopped wanting to work at that moment. He felt glued to his chair, staring at the open door. It couldn't be.

"...S...Sirius?"

Finding the use of his legs, Harry moved quickly to his godfather's side, taking the place of one of the person on left. It did not even occur to him exactly who the other two people were.

"What happened to you?"

This was the question of the hour. What had happened to him? Although his robes were neat and tidy, he looked to be a mess. Burses covered his face, and he could barely stand.

Shifting his weight, Sirius smiled, "Hi Harry, it sure has been a while." His deep voice sounded strained. Putting more of his weight on the man beside him than Harry, he made his way over to the chair that Harry had vacated. Nodding to Dumbledore, "Good day, Professor Dumbledore. I'm guessing we arrived a little early from Harry's reaction?"

Harry looked incredulously from Professor Dumbledore to Sirius, still not registering the other two people within the room.

"Ah." Dumbledore stood and started to caress Fawkes head. "Yes, I was just getting to the point when you three arrived. Perhaps you would care to tell the story Sirius, as it is your story to tell." He fixed his gaze upon Sirius as he spoke.

Eyeing Dumbledore, Sirius nodded and then turned towards Harry, "Harry, before I start to explain, I want to apologize for the last few months. Things were out of my control and we thought it for the best that I not owl anyone."

Harry started to say something, but Sirius cut him off. "Let me finish."

Taking a deep shuttering breath, he glanced first towards the door and then to Dumbledore. "It started three months ago. Both Dumbledore and I received the same message. 'The Keeper is compromised.' At that time, I did not know who the Keeper was, but I did know who sent the message. Whoever the Keeper was, they needed to be protected."

A loud HUMPH came from the corner of the room and then a SHH from someone else, but it was enough. Harry's attention had already been diverted from Sirius.

Turning where he stood, he looked towards the far end of the room where the other two had retreated. It was the woman Professor Dumbledore had said was Madam Nurr, and... He blinked just to make sure he was not seeing things... Professor Lupin. He wanted to race over to him, but he did not want to leave his godfathers side.

Sirius continued non-pluses. "Tei, don't give me that, you know what they can do."

Madam Nurr nodded her head in silent agreement and waved him on.

"As I was saying, at that time, I did not know who the Keeper was but from the letter I received, I assumed they needed protection. I came to Dumbledore in secret." Looking to Harry, "I'm sorry, we thought it best to keep you out of it, with all the troubles that were going on last year. I wanted to see you, I truly did, but we all thought it best."

Harry looked at Sirius; a look of shock etched upon his features. "You were here. Why, why didn't you see me? I wanted to see you."

"I could not, as much as I wanted to it was too dangerous. I'd hate to think of what could have happened to you. I have gotten enough gray hairs with worrying about you to pull you into this. As it was, we nearly didn't make it out in one piece." Sirius said trying to reassure Harry. "Remus and I were the only two to go in." He looked pleadingly to Dumbledore for help.

Dumbledore looked thoughtfully from Harry to Sirius, then for the briefest of moments he glanced over at Lupin and Madam Nurr. "We did not quite know where to start at first. The Keeper went into hiding many years ago to protect themselves from Voldemort. We did not even know his or her name when this came to a head. At the time this started, there were only five people who knew of the Keepers location, or at least that was how many were supposed to know."

A low, deep growl sounded from the corner of the room as if to punctuate Dumbledore's last statement. Harry turned to see Madam Nurr gripping the skirt of her gown with both hands, a look of furry passing over her face.

Not seeming to notice this outburst, Dumbledore continued, "I personally know one of these five, but even they would not devolve where the Keeper was in hiding." Madam Nurr punctuated that statement with a nod. "He could give us an approximate location though."

"I told Sirius as much as I could, and then made it clear that he was not to go in alone. The Keeper had been in hiding for many years and would have many defenses built for protection." Again, Madam Nurr nodded in agreement. "Remus had already been contacted by me, and I sent them out. After they left, all that I was able to do was sit and wait. They were under strict orders that no contact was to be made, with anyone. Including you Harry. We could not take the chance that they would be compromised."

While Dumbledore was speaking, Harry had looked from person to person, not knowing quite how to believe this. Sirius and Professor Lupin had gone off to save someone who they did not know, that Professor Dumbledore had not even known. They seemed to think that this was extremely important though. In addition, to make matters even worse, Madam Nurr, who was new to him, seemed to know even more about the situation than he did. She had kept making gestures and noises throughout both Sirius and Dumbledore's explanation. Who was she?

Stepping back, Harry's legs met with the front of a chair, and he fell into it, his eyes darting from one person to the next. His mouth started moving, but no sound was coming out.

\---------------------------------------------------------------------

Everyone felt it best to give Harry a few minutes to compose himself. He had not heard the whole story as of yet, and he already seemed to be in a state of shock.

Taking the opportunity as it came; Madam Nurr made her way over to Sirius and touched his forehead lightly. So not to upset Harry, she whispered to him. "Your fever is rising again, you have to lay down Sirius. I know you don't want him to see you weak, but if you collapse in here, what is he going to think then?"

Sirius just shook his head, took her hand away from his head and patted it. Whispering back, "I can't Tei, you should know be better than that by now. I'll lay down when I'm dead."

Muttering under her breath, she snatched her hand back and went back to Remus. "He's a hard headed fool. Trying to put on such a show... fool."

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Harry watched the goings on between the three of them, wondering what was going on. He did not like the way that Sirius and Madam Nurr looked at each other, nor what happened when she touched his head. They had exchanged words, but they were too low to hear. They were keeping something from him. He knew that he had not gotten then whole story as of yet.

A thought passed though his mind, something that Hagrid had said earlier. 'Your gonna love it Harry.' So far, nothing he had heard was giving him anything to love. There had to be more going on.

Clearing his throat so to get everyone's attention, Harry started to talk in a semi-calm voice. "Alright, this is what I understand. Sirius, you went on some sort of errand for Professor Dumbledore, and Professor Lupin went with you. You didn't want to get me involved because it was too dangerous." His face screwed up at this. He had been in dangerous situations before. "What I don't understand is why your telling me all of this now, or what you did. What happened to you Sirius? No one has answered my questions yet. Why am I here? What is going on? Moreover, why does Hagrid say I am going to love this? I haven't heard very much that makes me feel very good so far."

If Sirius had been able to get up at that point, he would have gone over to Harry and hugged him right then. "I'm sorry Harry, I promise you, before we're done, you'll have all your answers and then some. Will you accept that for now?"

Harry nodded slowly, fixing his gaze on his godfather. No matter what people said Sirius had done, Harry knew the truth of the situation and loved him dearly; Sirius was the closest thing he had to a real parent.

\---------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Not taking his eyes off Harry, Sirius started to talk again. "As Dumbledore said, we were under strict orders not to contact anyone, as not to compromise our position. We had no idea who was after the Keeper, just that we needed to get to them first, and that meant finding out who it was. I will be the first to admit that they could hide well, but as someone who has been on the run from the Dementors for as long as I have, you learn how to hide."

"It was a long journey, the most information we had was that they were hiding on the east coast of Canada and that they were very good in the healing arts." Sirius smirked as Madam Nurr started to cough back a comment.

"As I was saying," glancing over at Madam Nurr, "all we really knew was that they lived on the east coast of Canada. I knew that we might have some problems if we did not find them right away though. It was getting near a full moon and since neither of us had ever been in that region, we didn't know what the land was like, or if we could get Remus to a safe spot."

He smiled slightly, leaning back in his chair. "I shouldn't have worried, one thing we noticed when we arrived there in mid-April was that there was lots of woodland, and that it was easily accessible."

Harry started to cut in, "But what about the..."

"No contact, remember." Lupin spoke for the first time, his voice softer than from pervious years.

"No contact," Sirius chimed in. "not even for that. Nevertheless, old Moony over there was not that difficult to deal with. If anything, he was very helpful." Grins spread over both his and Lupin's faces.

"We traveled thru many little communities over the next couple of months, not even knowing if we had bypassed them. However, Dumbledore had said we would know them when we saw them." He looked over to Lupin and nodded, as if passing the story over to him.

Lupin nodded back, strode forward and placed his hands on the back of Sirius's chair, facing Harry. "As you should well know, werewolves are affected not only on the night of the full moon, but the nights before and after as well. Padfoot here," putting a hand on Sirius's shoulder, "kept me out of trouble."

"What we didn't know was on the night of June 19th, I was spotted." Shaking his head, he sighed. "The village wasn't on any may we had, or we wouldn't have stopped where we did. Padfoot was careful to keep me away from people."

"What I gather from the stories I've been told is that the villager went to the local healer for something. He thought he had been seeing things."

Sirius cut in, "Although it was a muggle village, the local healer was nothing of the sort. It seems our Keeper was very protective of their village and when they heard of this 'vision', went out to check it for themselves."

Lupin muttered 'stupid' under his breath.

Continuing unfazed, "They must have know a bit about werewolves, for neither of us heard them coming. All I remember is Moony falling over and then a sharp pain in my side. The world when black after that."

"When I came to, there was a beautiful angel hovering over me." Sirius got this far away look upon his face, while Lupin made motions as if gagging.

Harry grinned at the two of them.

Noticing Harry's grin, Sirius tried to look indignant. "What? She was beautiful, and everything looked so fuzzy!"

Madam Nurr started giggling from the corner.

By now, all four of them had forgotten that Dumbledore was still within the room.

Lupin cleared his throat loudly and took over the tale again. "It seems that instead of us finding our Keeper, she had found us. I was the first to come to, to find her puttering around the room. She was getting something together to put on Sirius's head. Seems he knocked it when he fell." Starting to laugh, "Seems his head isn't as hard as we thought it was."

Both Harry and Sirius started to laugh at that.

"I had no idea where I was, but I did realize I was not a wolf. Then I realized I was tied to the bed." Shaking his head, he tightened his grip on the back of the chair. "She must have heard my movements because she turned around and started to speak to me. 'I am terribly sorry about the rope M'Lord, but I cannot have you or your friend frightening the villagers. I will untie you when the sun rises on the morrow.'"

"I personally had never heard speech like that before, and felt compelled to keep her talking as long as I could."

"'Do you know what I am?' I asked"

"She answered, 'I do M'Lord, but do not worry, I do not fear you, nor your kind. It is the villagers who would not understand, they are but muggles and have no knowledge of what is out there.'"

"'You don't fear me, yet you know my kind?' To be quite honest, she had intrigued me. Though from what she was saying, I could tell she was a witch."

"She smiled at me and continued making some sort of poultice while answering me. 'Yes M'Lord, I know your kind, though you are a bit of a mystery. I would say from your accent, you are from England, and only recently in this part of the world. Also, you do not have control of the beast within you.' She shook her head at me for that. 'Your friend does though.' She nodded at Sirius who was still unconscious. 'I will give you something this eve that should be of much help to you, if you wish to have it.'"

"I must admit I must have looked like a fool at that point. For my mouth must have been hanging open. I told her my name, then just laid there flabbergasted as she treated ol' Padfoot here." Lupin started to laugh again, "That's about the point lover boy here woke up with his 'Have I died and gone to heaven' routine."

All four of them started to laugh at this. Madam Nurr even took a few tentative steps out of the corner of the room towards the three men as they did.

"Needless to say," Sirius started up again, "I wasn't tied down like Moony was. Although, I was too dizzy to move around much on my own, so it didn't really matter."

"She finally gave us her name, though I didn't believe for a moment that it was the real one."

Madam Nurr started cough and was covering her mouth with her hands. She looked as if she were trying to stifle back laugher, for tears were in her eyes.

"Ahem..." Sirius glared at her.

"She told us her name was Teigra Kefira, though she later told us her true name."

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"We told her all about Dumbledore, and why we had come to find her. I know she didn't believe us at first." Once again, Sirius glanced over at Madam Nurr. "However, we got a chance to prove ourselves on the last day of the month."

"While we were staying with her, she passed us off to the villagers as visiting relatives. This seemed to satisfy them, and they did not ask too many questions. I must admit she had a great routine in that little village. There were probably only twenty families all together, and everyone was on a first name basis with each other."

"If you recall, Remus said that she was the healer of that little village." Sirius grinned. "What got me, is I can't remember the number of times I heard 'Tei, will you come look at my cow/horse/cat/dog? They look a little off.' She did not just take care of the people, but she took care of the animals as well. Thought it should not have surprised me. She herself had a huge farm. I never saw the whole of it, for she wouldn't let me near certain areas."

"For eleven days, we hunted the woods, set wards around her farm, and got to know my angel even better." Sirius got a quirky grin on his face. "I know I shouldn't have, but there is only so many times a man can take hearing M'Lord before he starts taking up the speech himself. I fell hard for our Keeper."

"She was not too impressed with the fact that we were setting up wards though. She kept saying that it was unnecessary, that she would get warning long before anything happened. I could not believe her though. There were too many things that were out there, that I was sure she didn't know about." He shook his head. "I couldn't have been more wrong if I tried."

Madam Nurr stepped forward and placed her hand on top of Sirius's arm, then smiled softly at him.

She spoke softly, her voice quiet yet ringing with truth. "Not wrong, just misinformed. Strength is not always what you can see."

Harry watched this with growing fascination. How did Sirius and Remus proven themselves to the Keeper, and how was Sirius wrong? Most of all, why was he here? This still did not seem to deal with him in any way


	4. The Battle

Sirius looked up at Madam Nurr and smiled softly. The lines etched upon his face softened a bit. "Your right, Tei. I had been very misinformed. Had we had only known the extent of what was waiting for us though, perhaps we could have been better prepared."

Looking back at Harry, his face grew somber. "It was ten days ago that everything came to a head. It is only fitting that it was the last day of the month I suppose. Our trouble arrived in such a way that none of us expected."

"Miss Kefira woke me up early that morning, a storm had washed in from the ocean over night, it was coming down in sheets, and the lightning forked overhead. She was fretting around the farm trying to get the animals in out of the storm, and get to that part of the farm that she would not let us in. Both Remus and I went out to help. It was crazy out there. The whole village seemed to be in a state of panic. From what Miss Kefira was telling me as we worked was this kind of storm was not regular around there at this time of year. They would expect this in early spring or late fall, but not early summer."

"I turned around to do some work settling the cattle that she kept and that was when she snuck out on us." Sirius shook his head ruefully. "How were we supposed to keep an eye on her and protect her if she kept slipping off?"

"As soon as I noticed she was not in the barn with us, I ran out into the storm, followed by Remus. We quickly surmised that she wasn't back at the house, but had slipped to that part of the farm land we were given strict orders not to cross."

"I knew that she was a strong woman, I saw her set a bone with her bare hands, but I did not trust the storm. Something was not right about it. I was feeling increasingly uneasy with each lightning strike that lit the sky." Sirius's eyes shone with concern as he relived the scene within his mind. "As Remus and I got closer to the border of the land we were not to cross, a scream filled the air. A woman's scream."

As Harry watched, Sirius closed his eyes and reached out to take Madam Nurr's hand.

Taking a deep breath, Sirius opened his eyes and started again. "I changed then, wanting to get to my destination as quickly as possible. I thought that as a dog I could do that, whereas, as human I could not. What I saw..." His voice broke and his whole body seemed to shutter. Shaking his head, he motioning Lupin to continue, for he was unable to go on.

Lupin put his hand on Sirius's shoulder, frowning, feeling the heat coming off of him. He knew that Sirius did not wish Harry to know exactly how bad his godfather was, but he needed to rest. Taking over the story from that point on. "I was right behind Sirius when her scream filled the air. All I knew was to speed up, not even thinking of what we might face when we reached her." He looked down at his friend, and squeezed his shoulder gently. "I'm not exactly sure what I expected, but it was not what I saw that is for sure. Shortly before we reached her, the scream had stopped, though how much time had really passed, I cannot tell you. I do know that the sky had only just started to get light, and in that semi-darkness, I could see about ten figures advancing on a point of light. Then from behind I heard more movement. Not knowing what else to do, I ran towards the light."

"I felt certain that if we reached the light before the others, we could save her." Lupin stopped for a moment, as if trying to pull together what he was going to say next. Within his own head he was wondering how he was going to explain exactly what he saw that morning and what he did.

Shaking his head, Harry could feel the questions burning in his throat that he wanted to ask. He knew though not to break in at this point.

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Dumbledore moved quietly further back within the shadows of the room, listening to the tale that the two men were telling.

Although he had heard this once before, it had been Lupin to tell it, not Sirius. It was the same, yet very different. Because of the condition that Sirius was in, he had waited on speaking to him until today. With both men speaking, taking turns as they were, there was a whole other side that he was seeing for the first time, and that side dealt with the woman standing holding Sirius's hand.

Keeping his silence, he turned his gaze upon Harry. How he had grown since he had joined them at this place six years before. Who could have know the trials and tribulations he would have to overcome to even sit in this room. The young boy... no, young man, he remind himself, had become much more than anyone had ever expected, but this next year would be the test.

Thinking over his decisions, he nodded to himself, knowing he had placed everything as best as he could for helping young Mr. Potter in what was needed. He also told himself that Harry was much stronger than his father had been. The stars had spoken before his birth; young Potter was what he had been waiting for.

As Lupin started to speak again, he turned his gaze upon him, and listened intently. Though he had heard this before, it had not ceased to wonder him.

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After not speaking for a few seconds, Lupin took a breath and started up again. "What I saw in that light, I can't really say. I know that Miss Kefira was in there, but it was not exactly what I saw. Perhaps someday it can be explained, but not now." He shook his head. "I reached for my wand, and pointed it at the glowing light, when I felt a hand from behind, and I spun around. There was a young woman there who looked a lot like Miss Kefira. Although she was different, wilder, yet gave off a presence that made you trust her. She said to me, 'Use your magic on the men who come.' then pointed towards the advancing wizards."

"Sirius had already taken a station in front of Miss Kefira's glowing form. First as a dog, with his hackles raised and then, as a man, his wand out. Even the night we had Wormtail; I have never seen him so angry. Harry, he was like a wild man, protecting the thing he held closest to him. Also, I must admit," locking his gaze with Harry, "after that woman touched me, I was the same."

Once again, Harry felt the urge to break in and ask about this mysterious woman as Lupin fixed his gaze upon him. However, over the years, he had learned it wise to keep his interruptions to a minimum. There was so much to this story that he felt drawn within it. He still did not understand why he was asked here, or to why he was being told all of this, but he had a feeling that it would come soon.

With his gaze fixed upon Harry, Lupin struggled within himself to describe exactly what happened. "The woman moved behind the light that was surrounding Miss Kefira and touched it. It was if she was strengthen or adding to it, because the light in that glade got brighter. I do not know exactly what was happening to Miss Kefira within that light, but I got the feeling that as long as that woman stayed there, she would be safe. What we had to do was get rid of Voldemort's men."

"At first, it was just Sirius and I, fighting for our lives. I almost did not care if they used any of the unforgivable curses though. I have never felt that kind of confidence when facing the danger that we were. I felt in control of my own fate there." He shook his head once again. Trying to understand what happened so he would be able to explain it. "There were ten of them, and only two of us. Miss Kefira was in that ball of light and the woman behind her. I could not count them as part of the fighting team." He shrugged. "Perhaps I was wrong in thinking like that.""Sirius and I faced off the other wizards alone as best we could. I personally was wishing that Dumbledore had sent us with more people." Lupin chuckled a bit. "I've had to deal with worse situations though."

Sirius snorted in disgust.

Lupin smirked a bit and then shrugged. "Alright, I had not faced something like this before. Dumbledore had told me about the note that he had received. In addition, Sirius told me about the one that he had received as well. I knew that we had to protect this woman from Voldemort's toadies. This was not something that I usually do. Normally I am in hiding, trying to stay away from both wizards and muggles because of my curse. Only while I was here at Hogwarts did I ever have true friends."

He smiled a little bit, remembering his old friends. "Your father, Harry, and ol' Padfoot were the only two that I considered my friends for life. I once thought there was another, but you know what happened there." He sighed a bit, shaking his long mangy hair.

A frown appeared upon Madam Nurr's face at Lupin's last statement.

Taking a breath Lupin started talking again, resting one hand on Sirius's shoulder. "I think if it had not have been for Padfoot, I would not have made it out of that glade that morning." A tear appeared in his eye. "My back was turned, for I was fighting two wizards. Two to one is not a fair fight, but those odds I would rather go against than ten to one. Sirius saw what I could not; someone was sneaking up on me from behind."

"As the wizard attacked me from behind, Sirius jumped in the way. The curse that was sent towards me, hit him instead. I heard a scream from behind, but could not turn. I could not turn my back on the two wizards that were attacking me. By that time I knew that there were at least, four other wizards left. I hoped that Sirius was all right, that the scream I had heard was another wizard."

Lupin's face started to screw up. "The glade was getting brighter, but the rain was still falling in sheets. It was horrible, I could not see very far in front of me clearly, but I could make out shapes moving around. I did not think anything of the light at first while I was fighting. Now that I think back, I should have realized what was happening." He shook his head.

"I think I already mentioned that I could see movement though the rain. I believe now that Miss Kefira was keeping something at bay. I do not know what it was, but as the light got brighter, most of the figures disappeared."

Madam Nurr whispered, "It cannot be done again, they'll know how to bypass it next time."

Harry heard what she said, but because she whispered so quietly, Dumbledore missed it.

Lupin sighed, and continued what he was saying. "Then it was if people started to materialize out of the trees. Just as the woman had, they gave off this presence of trust. They joined us in the end, fighting against the worst of the wizards. I cannot remember if any of them had wands, but they all used magic. I believe they were animagus, they had to be animagus..." He shook his head. "Like Padfoot, they changed from human to another form of animal. Some turned into wolves like me, others, into tigers. I have never seen so many animagus in one place at the same time. I do not know who they were, they did not stay after the battle, and they slipped back into the woods as soon as it was finished."

"The battle though, was fierce, and three people were seriously injured. Luckily though, no one died. I do know that at least three wizards escaped though." Muttering under his breath. "I would have liked to have caught them." Speaking up again. "We caught seven of Voldemort's cronies. That was probably the only good thing that came of that."

"Sirius had been cursed, but before he had been hit, he had sent out a counter curse at the offending wizard. I had never seen this kind of curse before. You would think that I, one who used to teach 'Defense Against the Dark Arts' would know this one, but I did not."

"Before I knew what happened, Miss Kefira was kneeling beside Sirius's side, along with the young woman who had come up to me and touched me. She looked up to me, and told me to take care of the men that sprawled along the ground (the other wizards). She had taken control of the situation. Somehow, rope had appeared on the edge of the glade, and I used that to tie up the seven wizards who were unconscious on the ground. Two of whom were also in serious condition, one because of Sirius."

Sirius's face had started to grow pale, as Lupin had been saying that some of the wizards had been serious injured. By the time Lupin had finished, he started coughing. Madam Nurr wrapped one arm around his back and placed her other hand upon his chest, helping to support him.

Harry jumped out of his seat and moved quickly to his godfather's side. "What exactly happened to him? Do you know?" He looked pointedly at Madam Nurr.

Madam Nurr looked at Harry, and sighed softly while nodding. Her voice soft and soothing, she spoke. "He was cursed Harry, one of the worst that I know of. It is one of the forbidden curses. It was not as bad as the three worst, but is one of the ones I believe should be added to the list of unforgivable." As she frowned, a line furrowed her forehead. "He was in a coma until three days ago, and only now able to get out of bed. I did not wish for him to come up here this day, but they told me that it was necessary for everyone." She flashed a look at Lupin, who had the right frame of mind to look ashamed.

"Three days ago? That's when I recieved the letter from Dumbledore." Harry exclamed.

As soon as Sirius finished his coughing fit, she fixed her gaze upon Lupin. "Perhaps it is time."

Lupin looked down at Sirius for his consent, for Sirius was in no condition to speak for himself. Sirius nodded his accent.

Lupin started to speak "Now, as to the reason we wanted you here."


	5. Back to the Dursleys

Lupin looked at Harry and for a few moments, appraised the situation. Although it had been said numerous times, he looked so much like his late father James, it was uncanny. The only real difference was his eyes; he had Lily's eyes. He already had a good idea of what Harry's reaction would be to the news he was about to impart to him.

"Harry, one of the seven wizards we caught was Peter." Lupin watched Harry's eyes widen in shock. "He has been brought in front of the Ministry of Magic, under a truth potion. Sirius is now a free man."

As Lupin spoke, Harry's eyes had grown wider and wider with anticipation. He felt everyone watching him as this news sunk in. "Does, does this mean?" Harry fumbled with his words. "Does this mean I can go home with you?" He looked down at his godfather, his eyes shinning with delight.

Sirius nodded, a smile spreading across his gaunt face. Before he had a chance to say anything, Harry cried out in delight and threw his arms around Sirius.

Madam Nurr and Lupin looked at each other smiling.

Madam Nurr wiped a tear out of her eye and laughed softly. "I love family reunions."

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Dumbledore decided that this would be the right time for him to reemerge from the shadows. Stepping forward, he reached down to his desk and picked up a document from the desk.

Clearing his throat, he broke into the happy reunion. "I have already started the proceedings that will transfer your custody Harry. All that you need to do is have your Uncle sign these forms and you are free to live with Sirius."

The other four were startled and jumped a little. They had forgotten that Dumbledore had been in the room.

Harry reached out tentatively for the papers as Dumbledore smiled at him. "Thank you, Professor Dumbledore, sir." Harry said, his voice cracking from the unrestrained emotion coursing though him.

Dumbledore smiled from Harry to Sirius. "You are welcome."

"Now I have some questions that have not been answered as of yet." Dumbledore continued. "Although I have heard this tale twice now." He looked to Madam Nurr. "There is only one person who would be able to answer those questions, but she has not yet to speak."

Bowing her head slightly, Madam Nurr spoke. "You have asked me before M'Lord Dumbledore, and as I have said, I cannot answer you." She sighed. "I am the Keeper, as members of my family have been the Keeper since before time. I will know when the time comes to reveal what I keep." Looking up at Dumbledore. "What I can tell you is that the people that were in the shadows. The ones that Remus saw," glancing at Lupin, "will not be held off the same way again. They will know how to bypass that little trick next time." She shook her head, sadly. "Perhaps I will be able to do something else, but I do not know. They are strong, very strong."

Dumbledore watched her closely, and then nodded. "That I understand." He turned to Harry and Lupin. "Will you help Madam Nurr get Mr. Black to the Hospital Wing? I am sure that you still have much to discuss."

Both Harry and Lupin nodded, and then helped Sirius to his feet.

As they made their way to leave Dumbledore's office, Harry turned his head and smiled. "Thank you Professor Dumbledore." However, he was not heard, Dumbledore was stroking Fawkes and looking out over the grounds.

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Once they reached the Hospital Wing, Harry and Lupin helped Sirius to his bed. Madam Pomfrey and Madam Nurr fussed over Sirius after ordering the other two men to the other side of the room.

Madam Pomfrey started to go on about how Sirius should not have left the hospital wing, and how his fever must taken care of immediately. Madam Nurr spoke calmly to her. "Poppy, come on now dear. He had to go. There was family business that he needed to attend to. I brought him back as soon as I could." She smiled a bit at Madam Pomfrey. "He is alright now. All he needs is a pepper up potion."

Madam Pomfrey glared over at Harry and Lupin as if this was their entire fault and then stormed off to her office muttering under her breath about forbidden curses.

Madam Nurr shook her head as she watched her leave. "I'm sorry about that. Poppy feels this as a sort of test of her powers. I wish there was more we could do for him." She looked at Sirius. "However, that curse," sighing, "was one of the worst. There is no way to truly heal it. We can take care of it a bit at a time, but he has to heal on his own." She sounded like she growled the last breath under her breath. "I cannot understand it. I would normally be able to take care of something like this. Even with that curse, I should be able to cure him."

Lupin placed his hand on Madam Nurr's shoulder. "Tei, he'll be alright. He is doing much better than last week. You have said so yourself. Anyway," he grinned at Harry, "we have plans to make."

"Plans?" Harry asked.

"Well Harry," Sirius said from the bed, "we do have to get the Dursleys to sign those papers." He grinned. "Why don't we have some fun with them while we do it?"

A grin spread over Harry's face, and he glanced at his watch. "They're going to expect me to be in my room in about four hours." A thought spread though Harry's mind. Had it really been four hours since he arrived at Hogwarts? It had not seamed that long. He shrugged to himself.

Sirius's eyes narrowed. "What have they being doing to you Harry? Your looking a bit thin, and I would have thought you would have more color at this time of year."

Harry proceeded to explain what happened the first day he arrived back from Hogwarts at the beginning of the summer. How they had not been at the station to pick him up, then when he had arrived quite late that evening because of the Knight Bus, he was locked in his room. As Harry spoke, Sirius, Lupin and Madam Nurr all had shocked looks on their faces.

Madam Nurr breathed "They did that to you?"

Harry nodded.

Sirius looked as if he had murder in his eyes. "We will make them learn how to treat my godson." He looked at Lupin who nodded. "I think we will use plan B." Looking to Madam Nurr, "Tei, will you join us?"

She nodded a glint in her eyes. "I would be most honored M'Lord."

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Meanwhile, back at the Dursley’s, three hours later, Uncle Vernon was heading towards Harry's room to let him out for his nightly bathroom break. Aunt Petunia had mentioned to him earlier that Harry did not eat his lunch or dinner, but that was his own fault. If the little brat did not want to eat, why should he worry?

As he reached the door, he knocked first, just to make sure he would not have to see any of that wizarding stuff Harry had. After a few seconds, he put the key in the lock and turned it. He started to whistle as he reached for the door, and then turned the knob.

What he saw within the room was not what he expected. The room itself was spotless. Harry's bed had been made and everything was put away neatly. There was only one problem with this scene, no Harry.

"Petunia!" Uncle Vernon yelled. "He's gone."

Aunt Petunia came running up the stairs while Dudley poked his head out his bedroom door.

"Vernon, where could he have gone? He could not get out of this room."

"The window. He got out the window. Just like he did the last time." His round cheeks were burning red in anger. "Looks like he intends to come back though." Uncle Vernon was looking at the chest, which held Harry's wizarding supplies. "He will not find it so easy to get back in." His eyes were glinting with an evil light. "Get the phone Petunia."

Aunt Petunia went quickly down the stairs and got both the phone and the phonebook. Then heard something thumping down the stairs. She went to look, only to see Uncle Vernon dragging Harry's trunk down the stairs, and shove it in the cupboard under the stairs.

"He is not going back there Petunia. He is getting wild ideas. I will not have one of those in my family, or staying in my home. Give me the phone." Uncle Vernon took the phone and called a friend of his. The same man who once before installed the bars on Harry's windows.

Twenty minutes later, there came a knock on the door. Aunt Petunia opened it and smiled. "Vernon is upstairs in the room. Thank you for coming so soon."

The man nodded and tromped up the stairs. Since he had already been there once before, he just followed Uncle Vernon's humming.

Uncle Vernon and the man quickly installed the bars. The man questioned why they were doing this, but Vernon just made a non-committal comment, and continued putting in the bars.

As they finished up, Uncle Vernon turned to his friend. "Thanks Clive means a lot. Must come over for dinner later this week." They went down the stairs towards the front door.

It was just as they reached the door, the doorbell rang.

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Uncle Vernon eyed Aunt Petunia and mouthed 'are you expecting anyone?'

Aunt Petunia shook her head no.

He opened the door to two people about his age wearing neat suits. They spoke. "Good evening sir, we are here on behalf of child services. We have been getting reports of child abuse about this residence, and would like a look around."

Uncle Vernon's mouth started to mouth something unintelligible and waved them in. Clive quickly slipped out the door, not wanting to be caught in whatever was going to happen. Anyway, this would make great gossip to give to his wife.

The two people stepped into the house. The male was dressed in a well-tailored suit, his hair although a little long, was drawn back in a tail. The woman was dressed in a three piece suit, a light gray that set off the color of her floor length white hair, which was in a braid. They looked around the house knowingly and nodded to each other.

The woman spoke. "My name is Miss. Kefira, and this is Mr. Lupin. I appreciate the fact that you have allowed us into your home." The man, Mr. Lupin, stood behind Miss. Kefira, a scowl fixed upon his face. Miss. Kefira, on the other hand, had a sweet calming smile.

"We have had reports that there are two young men living within this home, and would like to question the both of them. We would also appreciate a chance to look around both of their rooms." Miss. Kefira said sweetly.

Aunt Petunia's face grew pale, and Uncle Vernon started to look like a fish.

Aunt Petunia was the first to speak, while the two people from child services were watching them. "My nephew Harry is out for the evening. He left earlier today. My son Dudley is up in his room playing on his computer. I'll go get him for you."

Miss. Kefira spoke up. "No need, Mrs. Dursley. We will speak to him within his own domain. He will feel more at ease there. I would like to see your nephew's room first though please."

Uncle Vernon swallowed and nodded, thinking of the bars he had just installed in the windows. "Right this way."

Both Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia started up the stairs first, followed closely behind by Mr. Lupin, and then Miss. Kefira. Before they started up the stairs behind them then, they exchanged a quick grin.

Fixing the looks back on their faces, just before they had reached Harry's door. Uncle Vernon was standing close to it, as if trying to hide the cat flap that was installed on the bottom of it.

"What is that?" Mr. Lupin said, speaking for the first time. His voice low and gruff.

"What? What... oh that?" Uncle Vernon shuffled his feet. "A joke, just a joke." However, as he spoke Mr. Lupin started jotting down notes on a piece of paper.

Uncle Vernon opened the door; thankful he had not locked it before hand. What he saw in the room nearly sent him into a state of shock. Harry was lying on the bed, his hands cradled behind his head. The window was closed and the bars seemed to gleam in the moonlight.

Once again, Mr. Lupin spoke. "I thought you said this young man was out for the evening." He started to make more notes and looking at the bars. "What do you call those Mr. Dursley? Another joke?"

However, Uncle Vernon could not speak, this was just too much. There was no way that Harry could have gotten back into the room without either him or Petunia seeing him.

Harry slowly sat up and looked at the two new comers in his room, and said in a very calm voice. "Is it time for me to go to the bathroom? I did not hear the lock turn. I am very sorry; I would have been ready for you."

Uncle Vernon seemed to find his voice. "Little tike, just joking, aren't you Harry?" He gave Harry an evil look.

Harry just shook his head. "Does this mean I do not get to use the washroom this evening sir? I do not know if I can wait until morning." It was all Harry could do not to break out in a grin while speaking. Miss. Kefira winked at him.

Uncle Vernon forced out a choked laugh, avoiding the question about bars on the windows.

Miss. Kefira spoke to Harry. "Young man, you do not look well. When was your last meal?"

"They push me in three meals a day Madam, but it is not much. Just a can of cold soup." Harry answered.

Miss. Kefira's eyes grew sterner, and she looked out the bedroom door to Aunt Petunia. "You push meals into this young man?"

Harry cut in. "It is not so bad Madam. Until today, I at least had my schoolwork to keep me busy. However, they took my trunk away. Maybe Dudley will allow me to do his for him."

Mr. Lupin glared at Harry, but there was a twinkle in his eyes. He then looked at Uncle Vernon. "I want to see this, Dudley."

Dudley, who had been poking his fat head out his bedroom door, listening to every word, waddled towards Harry's room. "What?"

As soon as Miss. Kefira saw Dudley, she looked to and from Mr. and Mrs. Dursley. "What is this? One child so skinny he would fit in a third world country and the other so fat he cannot even walk right." She looked indignant.

Uncle Vernon looked affright. "We put our little tike on a diet, he just is big boned."

Miss. Kefira shook her head, and then reached into her bag. "I will give you an option Mr. Dursley. Mr. Sirius Black, Harry's godfather has offered to take the young man in, if we felt that this was an unfit place for him to live in. In my opinion, we would have to take both children away from this home, and put them in protective custody. Locking a child in their room, barring the windows," shaking her head. She pulled out set of papers from her bag. "Just sign these and we will leave with this young man." She gestured to Harry. "However, if you do not, we will have to take both."


	6. The Leaky Cauldron

Aunt Petunia grabbed Dudley and pulled him towards his room, yelling. "You are not taking my Duddy-kins." She slammed the door as she made it into the bedroom, and locked it.

Uncle Vernon knew the only course he could take. He grabbed the papers and the pen that Miss. Kefira was offering to him, and quickly signed the papers without even reading them. He looked at Harry and growled. "Get out, get out of here."

It was all Harry could do not to let out a whoop of joy. He walked towards Uncle Vernon, his head held high, and gave him a hug. "Good-bye. I promise I will never come back." Smirking as he headed down the stairs, he then thought of something. "Hey, Uncle Vernon, I need my trunk, want to unlock the cupboard?"

Mr. Lupin started to glare again at Uncle Vernon, as he went down the stairs, shaking. This was more than he could deal with. How could they have known when to come? How did Harry get back into that room? There was no way he could have done it without using that... that... magic. However, there was no owl with a message stating that he had used magic. He remembered when he lost that big contract when that little brat had used magic in his kitchen a few years before. He did not want to say anything in front of these two people. He did not want anyone to know of the abnormal relation he had.

Once he reached the cupboard, he quickly unlocked it. Both Harry and Mr. Lupin picked up the trunk, and Miss. Kefira picked up the owls cage, without even giving it a second look. Then the three made their way out of the front door towards the large black BMW that was parked in front of the walkway.

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Once they had gotten in the car and started to drive away, Harry broke into a fit of laughter in the backseat. "That-" he started to say threw his laughter, "-perfect."

Both Madam Nurr and Lupin were chuckling in the front. "I must admit Harry," Madam Nurr started, "I was skeptical. However," she held her hands to her hurting sides, "I could not have done better if I tried."

Lupin, while trying to keep his eyes on the road, whipped tears out of his eyes. "Sirius would have loved that." He chortled.

At his godfather's name, Harry settled down a bit, asking what was most on his mind. "Where do I go now? Does Sirius have a home, and if so, is he well enough to go there?"

Madam Nurr sobered up as well, hitting Lupin in the shoulder as he continued to snicker. Turning in her seat to face Harry. "Remus told me that your godfather had a home for the two of you. We will first head to Diagon Alley, where we will pick up some necessities. The three of us will spend the night at the Leaky Cauldron."

Still laughing slightly, Lupin playfully put an arm around Madam Nurr's shoulders. "At least we only need two rooms."

Harry could not process the look that passed over Madam Nurr's face. If asked, he would say that he had seen shock and then playfulness there. However, he was certain that he had seen at least one or two other emotions there as well.

What Harry and Lupin did not see was the fear, then the remorse that Madam Nurr also suffered in that brief second before she spoke again. "Yes Moony, one for me, and one for you two." She slapped his hand away playfully and her voice held humor within it.

"Ah, but I was so hoping..." Lupin started whining.

"No." Madam Nurr was laughing now, one hand covering her eyes as she shook her head.

Harry was enjoying watching the byplay between them. The only other time he had gotten to see Lupin this cheerful was the night that Wormtail escaped. However, it was that night that two friends were reunited. Harry had only received periodic owls from Lupin since that night. He was glad that he was being given the chance to see one of his father's best friends this way.

"When do I get to see Sirius?" Harry asked, breaking up the play fight that had started in the front seat.

Tugging on her jacket, Madam Nurr tried to pull her dignity back together. "Sirius's train will be coming in at platform nine and three-quarters, tomorrow morning at 10. It will not give us much time for shopping, but I am sure we will get everything done in time."

Lupin chuckled, "This coming from Superwoman herself. The only person I know to get Padfoot out of bed that early in the morning."

Madam Nurr turned beet red. "REMUS!" She said indignantly. "I told you two, if you were going to stay, you were going to work."

Harry listened to them joke around for a little while longer, his mind wandering back over the day. Sirius was a free man, and he never had to go back to the Dursleys again. He was going to be living with his godfather. This was going to be the best summer ever.

As this last thought passed thru his mind, he fell asleep. A faint smile playing on his lips.

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Almost an hour later, Lupin pulled into the back parkway of the Leaky Cauldron. The noise in the car long since dying down to a whisper after they realized Harry was asleep. As he parked the car, he and Madam Nurr started discussing in hushed voices the plans for the evening.

"I will help Harry up to our room." Lupin said with a hushed voice. "Will you ask Tom to get some tea and crumpets ready? I am starving."

Madam Nurr chuckled appreciatively as she got out of the car. She opened the back door to the car and gently shook Harry. "Come on hun," she said in a soft soothing tone, "it is time for bed."

Lupin made his way around the car as Harry was roused into a semi-conscious state. He watched Madam Nurr, thinking to himself, 'she's going to be perfect.' A smile played on his lips.

Madam Nurr smiled at him. "I will go talk to Tom. Dumbledore said we had rooms nine and ten, so I will take the smaller of the two." She turned and walked towards the little pub, and disappeared inside.

Lupin shook his head, then looped his arm under Harry's and helped him get to his room.

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Walking down to the common room, Lupin looked around for Madam Nurr. He felt a momentary surge of panic. He could not see her within the room. Trying to put on a façade of calm, he waved Tom over to him.

"Mr. Lupin sir," the kind elderly man started, "you'll be looking for Miss. Kefira, I'd be supposing."

Lupin nodded. "Yes Tom, could you direct me towards her?"

"Why certainly Mr. Lupin, right this way." Tom started to prattle on as he led Lupin across the room. "Requested a private room she did sir. And all polite about it. Callin' me M'Lord Tom and such stuff. Got a good heart that one does." His commentary ended as they reached a closed door at the back of the tavern. "Right in there she is. If you be needing anything."

"I will call."

Tom seemed to take that as enough and hustled off to serve his other customers.

Lupin opened the door slow and stepped inside.

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Having been directed to a small room in the back, Madam Nurr sunk gratefully into a huge chair by the fire. She did not start to stir from that spot until Tom had arrived with the tea. However, it was not until he had left the room again, that she really started to move.

She reached behind herself, to draw her long hair over her shoulder. Slowly, she started to unbraid her long tresses, as she enjoyed her first time really alone in almost a month. Sighing, she sat there watching the fire, becoming lost within her thoughts.

'Why had they come after me? They, of all people, know I cannot even speak of it.' Sighing to herself, she leaned closer to the fire, her hair pooling on her lap. 'Even they knew the signs; they had all learned them. They knew as well as she did what would happen if things were done before hand. Perhaps they did not care anymore.' She was so lost within herself; she did not hear the door open behind her.

Lupin watched her from the doorway. She had not stirred from where she was sitting. He had never seen her not respond to even the slightest noise before. She had always moved as soon as there was movement. He walked up behind her and touched her on the shoulder.

Then the world went dark


	7. Platform Nine and Three-Quarters

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Black Dog Manor is an actual place, it's a Bed & Breakfast, I've never personally been there, but the name is perfect. - I am not sure on this fact any more as this was written at least 14 years ago, but it was true at the time.

Lupin awoke the next morning in a daze. His first conscious thought was, 'where the hell am I.' It sure did not look like the room that he was supposed to be sharing with Harry. As he pulled himself into a sitting position, he realized that not only was he in a strange room, but that he was dressed only in his boxers and his head felt like mush.

Groaning, he forced himself to throw his legs over the side of the bed, voicing aloud. "What in the nine shades of hell happened last night?" The last thing he remembered was reaching down and touching Madam Nurr's shoulder, the next thing he knew, he was waking up in this bed.

He heard a soft laughter coming from the other side of the room. Turning his body where he sat, he looked towards whoever was there.

"Moony, Moony, Moony... you know better than to sneak up on someone," Madam Nurr chided from a chair.

"Tei, what happened?" Lupin asked as he started to rub his forehead.

"If you do not remember M'Lord Lupin, it is not my place to say." The grin that passed over her face was priceless.

"Come on Tei, what happened?"

However, she just sat there and giggled at him for a few more moments. When she did finally speak again, it was on a different topic. "Come on Moony, it is time for you to get dressed." She continued to giggle. "We need to pick Padfoot up at the train station. Harry and I have been waiting for you to wake up."

"Say what?" Lupin started, looking around for his robes and found them on the bedside table, neatly folded. "What time is it?"

"It is almost nine o'clock you dolt!" She could not help but laugh at his frantic efforts to pull his robes on over his head while keeping the blanket across his lap. "Oh, by the way, nice boxers." By this point, she was leaning back in her chair laughing hysterically. "Cupids?"

Lupin blushed a rather bright shade of red and started mumbling. "They were a gift!" He finished getting into his robes and stood carefully. "We have to go then, why did you not wake me up earlier? What about all the shopping that needed to be done?" He said while making his way to the door where Madam Nurr joined him.

"It has already been done; Harry is packing everything in the car while I got you. As for not waking you, you needed your rest, dear friend." She smiled up at him. "Now come, neither Harry nor I know how to drive and we do need to be going. We are running late."

Lupin gave her an appraising look, than chuckled as they made their way to the car. "Just can't wait to get your hands on the old dog, can you Tei?"

Madam Nurr turned beet red.

Trying to pull off a professional demeanor, "I have a purely professional interest in him, Remus."

"Yeah right Tei, which is why you are every shade of red known to the wizarding world." Lupin chuckled.

"I am not." Madam Nurr was trying to sound indignant. "Come on, Harry is waiting for us. He wants to see his godfather, and I have a patient to take care of."

Lupin just shook his head and chuckled as they went out the back door of the pub. He had seen the looks that the two of them had been shooting at each other when they thought the other was not looking. However, she was right, they had to go pick up Sirius at the station, and as it was it looked like they were going to be late. Madam Pomfrey would have a fit if they were late, for she was turning Sirius over to Tei for care.

As they walked out the door, Harry was waiting for them. "Hey you two. What took so long?"

The three of them climbed into the car and were off.

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The drive to King's Cross Station was uneventful. Thanks to the car they were borrowing from the Ministry of Magic, they arrived with five minutes to spare.

Hurrying though the station, they quickly reached the barrier that separated platform nine and three-quarters from the rest of the station. Casually, they each passed through, just in time to see the train pull in.

"We made it on time." Madam Nurr breathed, playing with the folds of her dress, biting upon her lower lip.

"Yep, and Padfoot should be coming off that train any minute." Lupin was feeling a little foolish standing there in his robes. A few people had glanced at him funny as they had made their way through the station.

Harry was bouncing on the balls of his feet, watching the crowd for Sirius. Lupin had finally taken the trolley from him almost as soon as they had crossed the barrier. For he was too excited to stand still. He knew that Madam Nurr and Lupin were watching him almost as much as they were for Sirius, but he really did not care. He was going home with his godfather.

Harry spotted Sirius before either of the others and sprinted off in his direction. "Sirius!" He called out to catch his attention.

Madam Nurr and Lupin followed behind.

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Sirius sat in his seat on the train, a thousand things going though his mind, hardly noticing the train pulling into King's Cross. It was still unbelievable that in just a few minutes he would be going to be going back to his old home, with his godson. There was one thing that had been going though his head repeatedly since he had woken up four days ago; he was free.

Sirius, however, was still very weak. Both Madam Pomfrey and Madam Nurr had explained the effects of the Smurnockette Curse that had been put on him. They told him he was very lucky to have woken up at all, let alone so soon.

He smiled to himself, thinking about the argument that had ensued the night before between the two ladies when it was announced that he would be going home the next day. Madam Pomfrey was adamant that he should not be taken from the Hospital Wing, that he needed constant care. What had surprised him though was how Madam Nurr stood up for herself. The words ringing in his head, 'Poppy, I have served as a healer longer than you can remember, I will be with him. You need to stay with the castle, at this time, I do not.' However, if that had surprised him, what happened next blew his mind Madam Pomfrey backed down, and agreed to take Sirius on the train to King's Cross without another word of argument.

He pondered Madam Nurr's words as the wheels of the train started to screech, signaling that the train was coming to a stop. What had she meant when she said that? He had to concede that she was older than she looked, but she could not be that old.

He was roused from his thoughts as the train came to a complete stop. He knew that someone would be at the door of his compartment any minute. As he waited, he tried to push back his unruly, shaggy, black hair.

Someone knocked on the door, and then slid it open. "Come on Sirius." The large, giant of a man said. "Harry will be waitin' for yah." He made his way to Sirius to help him.

Laughing, Sirius accepted the help to his feet. "Thank you Hagrid. I'm surprised Poppy did not come herself."

"That old git? She's out dare, waitin' outside the door." He cocked his head towards the open door.

"I should have known I would not escape without her at my side one last time," the two of them muffled their laughter.

Hagrid helped Sirius out the door, where Madam Pomfrey started fussing over him. "Shouldn't be out of bed. Make sure you lay down as soon as you get there." She touched his forehead. "Fevers up again," looking annoyed. "Mr. Black, you are not to do very much for the next few weeks."

Turning, as not to allow Sirius a word in edgewise, she led the way off the train.

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Once they had stepped onto platform nine and three-quarters, Sirius started to look around for the other three. It seemed especially busy on the platform today, but that could have been just his imagination. He was starting to feel rather crowded in though. It had been fifteen years since he had been around so many people.

He heard Harry before he saw him.

"Sirius!"

Turning towards the voice, using Hagrid for support, he broke out into a wide grin, then was almost knocked over in Harry's excitement. "Harry." He wrapped his long arms around his godson. 'This is how it is supposed to be' passed thru his mind.

"Harry," he looked down on his godson and smiled, while Hagrid helped to keep him standing. "How did last night go? I take it you will not be needing to go back to the Dursleys." He chuckled appreciatively, already knowing the answer.

"Nope, I don't really think they will be wanting to see me any time soon." Harry disentangled himself from his godfather, and smiled to Hagrid.

It was then that Madam Nurr and Lupin arrived with the trolley.

"You should have seen it Padfoot," Lupin started up right away, thumping Sirius on the back. "It was priceless. You should have seen the look on that muggle's face when Harry was in his room!" He started laughing.

Madam Nurr spoke softly, but laughter teemed in her voice. "You could tell he was trying to figure out how Harry had gotten in. With the bars, there was no way that he could have gone through the window. However, the bars and the door itself did make things much easier." She shook her head. "Though I am worried about their son."

Harry shook his head at her and rolled his eyes. "Dudley's been like that his whole life. He does not want to change." He shrugged and turned back to Sirius. "Can we go home now?"

"I don't see why not Harry." Sirius looked over at Madam Pomfrey, who now had Madam Nurr pulled to the side and was giving instructions. "Poppy, am I good to go?"

She looked over at him, with a look of disdain in her eyes and nodded. "You can go, however, remember what I told you."

"Yes Poppy."

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With Hagrid's help they made their way to the car and got Sirius settled within it.

"Thanks Hagrid," Harry called from the car as they drove off. "See you in the fall."

Hagrid waved as they drove away.

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Harry watched Lupin, Sirius and Madam Nurr in the car as they drove along. "So..." he started, "where exactly are we going?"

Sirius laughed a bit, "Moony, I thought you were going to tell him."

"Nah, I thought you would like the chance to tell him all about your old home Padfoot. The four of us sure did have some good times there during our summer vacations. Anyway, it's your home, not mine." Lupin said over his shoulder.

"Thanks Moony, I appreciate it." Sirius chuckled, "Harry," turning his attention upon him. "We're going to my old home. It has been in my family for generations, and since I am the only living Black, it is now my home. Well, it was my home long before now." He shook his head. "You see Harry, I lost my parents to Voldemort while I was at Hogwarts, in my sixth year."

Taking a deep breath, he continued. "The family home was left to me, and because I was already sixteen years of age, I was not forced to go to an orphanage. Professor Dumbledore arranged for Moony, Prongs and Wormtail to spend that summer with me, along with an adult for supervision."

Lupin broke in. "Like they kept us in order..."

"However, we did not listen to them very much." Sirius chuckled. "My home, is quite large and we had a good time that summer. The four of us enjoyed ourselves, and I learned to become the lord of my manor."

"That is where we are going Harry, Black Manor. Or as it is better known as to the villagers, Black Dog Manor."

Harry, who had been hanging onto Sirius's every word, just gapped at him. "A manor?"

"Yep," Lupin commented from the front. "It's a big place Harry, you better be ready for a good time."

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The car settled into a comfortable silence as they continued to drive. After about five hours of driving, and a couple of stops to go to the bathroom and drinks, Harry thought they were going to be driving forever. Then Lupin pulled off of the main road and onto a dirt pathway.

"Sirius, you really have to get this paved you know." Lupin complained from the front.

"And ruin the rustic look?" Sirius joked from the back.

Harry was not listening though; he was looking out the window towards the looking to see his new home.

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted on fanfiction.net and on my personal website. Slowly but surely moving stuff over here.


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